Twin Syndrome
by King Sephiroth
Summary: Eight years after Advent Children, life is going smoothly. However, after a freak accident involving the Sister Ray, a horrible plague erupts. The people are in a panic, and Cloud and his friends have to try and stop it. And is that, Sephiroth?
1. Chapter 1

Hey, it's me. Now, I know I haven't worked on Heretic much, but as soon as I'm done typing this story up, I'll finish that one. This is probably the best story I've ever wrote, and I owe that to Nathan and Liz (coughnotcough), who helped me write it. I refuse to abandon this one as I have my others, and have already done seven chapters in advance.

There's some backstory you'll need on the three OC's. The first, Rasputin, is mine. He and the second, Riou, became friends with Cloud and the others six months after Advent Children. The third, Luna, just works at the bar. Don't worry if you don't like her, none of us do. But I hope you'll like the other two. Anyway, enough babble. On with the show!

(This is totally a page break)

It was a warm fall day. Lives were going on as they would on any other day. People were running late for work, skipping school, eating a late breakfast, having quiet coffee. Midgar, however, was still, eight years after Sephiroth's second resurrection, in ruins, save for one building.

Rufus Shinra had rebuilt the Shinra Electric Power Company from the ground up. Though it was no longer the evil, Mako-sucking monstrosity of his father's day, the Turks and several soldiers were still in Rufus's employment. When the media asks about this, he simply smiles and says "I try to keep in touch with my old friends."

One of these 'friends', however, had just been cut out of the loop, so to say. Fired for arriving drunk three times in one week, Sterling Dark stumbled into a room he had never been in, intoxicatingly complaining about his new unemployment.

"Fuckin' morons!" he belched, "Fire me, why don't they? I've been here since Shinra Senior, dammit!"

He slammed his fist onto a console, cursing like a drunken Cid Highwind. He heard a 'blip', and looked at the screen. The cameras underneath the Sister Ray (which also had been a source of much media attention) came on. Sterling's eyes widened, and he hit a few buttons to undo what he had done. However, the doors locked behind him, and a gas emitted from the ceiling.

"Oh shit!"

The Sister's barrel filled with a red energy. Sterling panicked. Before he could do anything, however, the room filled with gun shots. Three soldiers entered the room as Sterling fell, dead. One of the soldiers fell to the ground, face in his hands.

"God save us!" he cried. "We're too late!"

The Sister had fired. It's target; The Northern Crater.

(Part two)

In Kalm, a small delivery service had recently settled in quite comfortably. The building it was located in also had a bar. The sign read "Strife Delivery Service and 9th Heaven". A man wearing all black, with a coat that had only one sleeve, with spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes sat on a couch, drinking a beer. His companion, a man with long raven hair kept somewhat tidy with a red bandana, wearing a read cape and golden boots, had a martini, and was eating some nachos. They were watching television.

"Though many believe it to be a beast, the Midgar Zolom is actually only childish, wishing to play with any passers by who may…"

"What bull." Cloud said. "We fought one before we met you, Vince, and it wasn't friendly."

"I see." Vincent said, and sipped his drink. "You realize of course that I don't care?"

(Part three)

Far away, near the former city of Corel, in the Gold Saucer, a long time companion of former AVALANCHE rebel group, was playing a video game. He wore a black and white mask, and his short silver hair was spiked. He wore a white hooded sweatshirt, grayed from the usage. A silver necklace of a cross spilled out from it .At the joysticks he gripped, black leather gauntlets with buckles held tight, covering various battle trophies. Most women would still say… "ewww" . People were staring at him, disturbed by the amount of noise he was making.

"Die, you frickin' evil space ship!" Riou screamed. "Aha! Heck yes, three hundred more points and high score! Woot!"

However, his high score would have to wait. His cell phone rang, and his ship died. With a crushed look on his face, he answered.

"Hello? Oh, hey Raz!"

The man on the other end sighed irritably. He had ankle length silver hair and bright red eyes. He wore all black, tied together with a black trench coat with green trim. It clashed heavily with his pale skin.

"Why doesn't anyone call me Rasputin?" he grumbled, then said to Riou "Shinra has a huge problem."

Riou rolled his eyes.

"Geez, did Reno get his hand stuck in the vending machine again?"

"No…well, yeah, but that's not it. Some drunk shot off the Sister Ray. It hit the Crater."

Riou let this sink in, and went into business mode.

"Right, got it. I'll pass the word onto the 9th. Get Yuffie to get the jaws of life, and get someone to Midgar to investigate the Sister."

Riou hung up and looked at the screen.

"Cool, second place."

(Part four)

At the 9th, a girl with shoulder length dirty blond hair held up in a strange bun and a gray dress was cleaning glasses. Cloud and Vincent were now both drunk, and making stupid bets with each other. Luna shook her head.

"Hey, Tifa, you've got bad taste in men."

Tifa, a girl with slightly longer brown hair and a black leather dress-type-thing, sat in her own stool, sighing.

"Men…"

Luna smiled.

"C'mon. They're great entertainment."

"Heh." Tifa smirked. "True. You ever seen Cloud get his hand stuck in the toaster?"

"Toaster? I thought it was the condom machine?"

Tifa grimaced.

"That was when Vincent got him drunk." She looked over and saw Cloud carrying his sword, complaining that he missed the 'good ol' days'. "Hey, put the damn sword down if you're gonna keep drinking! My bar can't handle another explosion!"

Luna giggled.

"That was pretty funny, actually."

Tifa sighed.

"Well, insurance covered it. Really, I don't remember buying the drunken-warrior-toaster-explosion policy."

"Hey, Cloud," Vincent said, slightly slurred, "I'll bet you twenty five gil you can't fit your whole head in the legs of the chair."

Cloud, who was even more drunk, grinned.

"You're on! Wait, my phone's ringing…" Cloud answered and grinned at the voice. "Hey Raz!"

Rasputin growled.

"Is Vincent more sober than you?"

"Slightly."

"Put him on."

Cloud nodded as if Rasputin was right there, and threw the phone at an unsuspecting Vincent. He saw it, however, and ungracefully caught it, then answered.

"Hello?"

"It's me. Riou was supposed to call half an hour ago, but he's at the Gold Saucer, so…"

"He hasn't contacted us. Is something wrong?"

"The Sister Ray shot off and hit the Crater forty five minutes ago. Four confirmed deaths, several injuries, and a few missing. We need the jaws."

"Right." Vincent sighed. "We're on our way."

He hung up and threw the phone to Cloud, but the blonde wasn't there. Vincent looked around.

"I'm down here…sorta….stuck. You owe me some gil!"

(Part five)

Riou walked into the Gold Saucer's trolley and took his seat. As was his custom, he pulled his binoculars out of his pocket to observe the prison below. He didn't really know why, but it had always fascinated him. He watched the several prisoners, and wondered how many of them were actually guilty of the crimes they were accused of. Maybe that was what was what he was obsessed with; if you were accused of anything in this world, you were guilty. It was a depressing thought, really.

He felt the trolley lurch and begin to move. It threw his concentration off. He set the binoculars for a second , thinking of the situation at the Crater. Then, to see if it was obvious the place had been hit, he looked at it through the binoculars. He saw something, but he couldn't tell what. All he knew was that it was moving. He turned the knob several times to get a better view. What he saw disturbed him.

Twelve cloaked figures were slowly making their way to the summit, near the smoldering point of impact. Riou focused on the smoke, and a shadow of a man could be seen. Riou quickly put the scopes away and pulled out his phone. He dialed Rasputin's number and held the receiver to his ear. His friend answered after the second ring.

"Yeah?"

"Raz!" Riou cried. "There's something you've gotta s-"

Riou was cut off as the train lurched forward suddenly, and he dropped the phone out the window. He cursed and tried to catch it, almost falling out himself in the process. He steadied himself and sighed, sitting back down.

"Oh well…"

(Part six)

Back at the bar, Luna had pulled a tub of butter from the fridge, and was rubbing it on Cloud's still stuck head. Vincent was pacing, worried, though his face showed nothing. Tifa grabbed his real arm to stop the moving. It was making her nervous.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Hold still, dammit!" Luna yelled at Cloud, then looked at Vincent. "Did Reno get his hand stuck in the Coke machine again?"

"No…well, yes, but that isn't why I'm worried. Someone shot off the Sister Ray approximately forty-seven minutes ago. We need to get the jaws and leave, but…"

"What!" Tifa cried.

Cloud, from his point under the rest of them and through his drunken haze, had just deciphered the first part of the message.

"Someone shot off the Sister?" he cried. A pause, and he giggled unlike any twice-world-savior ever should. "I smell like toast. Heh." Luna smashed the butter on his head.

"Dumbass. Hey, where's his sword?"

(Part seven)

Rufus Shinra walked toward the entrance of his building, irritably straightening his tie. The press wanted a statement, and he hated public speaking. With a passion. He turned a corner and saw Reno struggling against his soda-induced imprisonment.

"Hey Reno." he muttered. Reno looked up and waved with his free hand. The President kept walking.

He reached the entrance to the building and saw the dozens of reporters and sighed. He walked outside and was instantly assaulted by questions.

"Mr. President, can you explain what happened today?"

"Was this an accident, Mr. Shinra?"

"Are you _trying_ to use all the Planet's mako, Mr. Shinra?"

Rufus cleared his throat, getting a temporary silence, and chose his words very carefully.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, hating the small shake in his voice, "I can assure you, this was a very unfortunate accident. A recently fired employee, who will not be named, wandered into the control room and slammed his fist into the controls-"

"Mr. Shinra, do you mean to say it's _that_ simple to get into the room that controls this Planets largest cannon?"

"If you are an employee of his status, then yes."

"Are than any confirmed casualties?"

"I'm sad to say, yes, four, the then employee included. A survivor, who's job it was to guard the room, has been fired for his absence."

"Yeah, I'll bet! Machine gun fired!"

Rufus growled.

_Am I that predictable?_

"President Shinra, what is being done?"

"I'll tell you more as I find out more myself. Thank you."

The President turned and walked back into his building, ignoring the questions and insults flying at him. He wiped a thin line of sweat from his brow and muttered several curses.

(Part eight)

After departing from the trolley, Riou had searched for a payphone for several minutes, then found one next to a fisherman's boat. He had dialed Rasputin, and was talking quickly.

"Raz, we've gotta get to the Crater soon, man. Something big is going on."

Riou could detect the doubt in his friends voice, and it angered him.

"The Crater, Riou?" Rasputin said, "What, other than the hole in the side, could possibly be new at the Crater?

"You don't understand, Raz! There were these twelve guys-"

"Just people from Icicle who wanted to check it out. Calm down and get over here, man."

Riou pouted and crossed his arms. Raz was _not _winning this argument.

(Part nine)

At the Crater, the twelve cloaked figures had reached their destination. They dropped to their knees and bowed at the figure in the smoke. Said figure was holding a sword, and was chuckling.

"Se…phi…roth." one of them muttered.

"Noli manere memoria." the figure muttered, and stepped out of the smoke. He had waist-length silver hair, and a long black coat. He was even more pale than Rasputin.

"I will not remain as a memory," he said, "and no one can make it so."

(This is the end of the chapter)

Alright, that was it. Please, leave me a review, whether you like it or not. Tell me what to change, what was alright, whatever. I'll update every Monday, so until then, later!


	2. Ressurection and the Syndrome

Well, here begins chapter two. I know, I'm a day late, but I just started school, so yeah. I'll try and be relatively on time, but expect it anywhere from Monday to Tuesday. Why am I writing this? Nobody's read this yet...

(Total page breakness)

"Look," Riou pleaded with Rasputin, "At least go to the Crater and wait for me, alright? I know you can get there faster than me, and I need to, er, make a pit stop first."

"Fine, fine, I'll go. What's this 'pit stop' you speak of?"

"Ancient Village." Riou said, grinning. "Ten years ago, when Aeris was killed, she dropped a materia. I want it."

"Why?"

"I think…it could come in handy."

(Part Two)

"I'll tell you more as I find out more myself. Thank you."

Everyone in the bar had watched Rufus's speech while Tifa went off to get the jaws of life. Luna was fuming.

"What an asshole," she grumbled and stormed out, mumbling about 'bureaucratic bastards'. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder what she has against Rufus…" he said to no one in particular. Cloud, now free from his chair-prison and sobered up, shook his head.

"She blames Shinra senior for her parent's…" Cloud searched for the right word, and, finding no better one, said "insanity."

"How so?"

"Well, in a subsection of Shinra called Umbrella, her parents were working on a cure for a disease that doesn't even exist. Hojo said that the disease, called Twin Syndrome, would occur during the Jenova reunion. People that had been killed within the previous few weeks would come back in a zombie-like state, and hunt for living people, feasting on them.

"Hojo theorized that the disease would be passed on by a bite from these things and assigned Luna's parents to the assignment. They could never find any evidence of the disease, thus obviously never found a cure, but Hojo insisted they keep working. They looked so hard for any evidence of the virus that they went crazy."

Vincent nodded. He had never heard any of this, and felt quite bad for the girl.

"We probably shouldn't allow her to know that we're friends with him then." he said. As Cloud opened his mouth to respond, Tifa walked downstairs, holding the jowls, a puzzled look on her face.

"A thought occurs to me." she said. "We're in Kalm, and this happened in Midgar, yet _we_ seem to be the only people in either Edge, Midgar, or Kalm with a set of these things."

"I found that strange as well." Vincent remarked.

"So what's the exact plan?" Luna asked, having arrived with a vodka tonic.

"My assumption," Cloud said, "was that we would free the injured people from the rubble, and search for some of the missing people."

Tifa nodded.

"Doesn't get much clearer than that."

"Indeed."

(Part Three)

Riou searched for a glimpse of long silver hair, belonging to his enemy or his friend, but saw only rocks as he climbed the Crater. He was moving slowly toward the mouth, trying not to show his fear to anyone who may be watching. He had already picked up his materia, and that should have brought him comfort, but he was still shaking. He reached the top and peered down. Suddenly he dropped to one knee, feeling a burning sensation on his face. He touched his mask absently, willing his memories to go away.

_Riou ran up to the mouth of the Crater, ten years younger and without a mask. Even though they had never met anyone in AVALANCHE (except Tifa, in Riou's case), he was convinced Cloud would accept his and Rasputin's help._

"_C'mon, Raz, hurry up!" he yelled at his friend, who was lagging behind, unenthusiastic. Not scared, just bored. He sighed._

"_Shut up, Riou." he said. "It isn't my fault you're in such a hurry."_

_Riou stuck his tongue out and turned back the seemingly endless Crater. He ran ahead up to the edge and looked down. His heart skipped several beats. There, down close to the bottom, was a small black figure with white, flowing hair._

"_Raz, I see him!" he yelled, peering down further._

_Sephiroth glared up at the boy, and with his superior Mako eye-sight, he locked gazes with Riou. He raised his right arm, the left preoccupied with his sword. An energy spiraled around it, and he cast Flare. The spell rushed up, and before Riou could react, the spell hit him in the face. He flew backwards and slid halfway down the Crater, his body limp and in a world of pain. Rasputin ran after him, screaming. When he reached him, he smelled burning flesh, and saw Riou's face…or at least, what remained of it._

"_Oh God…" he muttered, and screamed, "Somebody help us!"_

_Riou looked around in a daze and saw his reflection in Rasputin's eyes. He lost consciousness._

Riou shuddered himself out of his reverie and grabbed a loose stone from the ground. Without looking, he threw the rock into the mouth of the Crater and hurriedly jumped back, covering himself like he was preparing for a bomb's explosion. After he heard the dull _thud _of the rock hitting ground, he sighed in relief and stood.

Rasputin, unaware of his friends current plight, came up silently behind him and tapped his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Riou screamed and flung himself at Rasputin's feet, groveling.

"I didn't mean to come back here, Sephiroth, please! I got led here by your followers, please don't kill me! I don't want to die! I do-"

Rasputin grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him violently.

"Riou, calm down! It's me, Rasputin." he continued in a comforting tone. "You don't need to worry, Sephiroth is-"

They each heard footsteps behind them and turned to look. In front of them stood a figure in black, holding a long sword and grinning as if he'd just one an impossible contest.

"Go one, finish it." he said. "You were going to say dead."

Rasputin's eyes became like red dinner plates. He turned to around to make sure Riou was alright, but he was merely holding his jacket. Despite everything happening at the moment, only three words came to his mind;

"Wow. He's fast."

(Part Four)

Vincent and Cloud walked out of the bar, Cloud holding the tools they would need.

"I assume we are taking Barret's truck?" Vincent asked. When he got no response, he turned around. "Cloud?"

Cloud had dropped the jaws, and his eyes were wide. He was shaking violently. He dropped to his knees.

"Se…Seph…Sephiroth." he choked, and looked up at Vincent. "Sephiroth is alive."

(Part Five)

The wind ripped through the air at the top of the Crater as Rasputin stared into the eyes of the Dark Descendant, the One-Winged Angel, Sephiroth himself. Hate flashed inside his eyes, and he suppressed his memories yet another time, trying to control himself.

"What the hell is it going to take to keep you _dead_?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Sephiroth ignored his comment and pointed his sword at him.

"Where is Cloud?" he asked. "Do you know him? He has hair like a chocobo."

If this had been anyone else, Rasputin would have laughed. However, as this was Sephiroth, he reached into an inner pocket of his coat.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with Cloud," he said. Fast as lightning, he pulled his handgun out and fired at Sephiroth. The bullet hit it's mark; Sephiroth felt the slug hit him directly between the eyes. However, to Rasputin's horror, it merely fell off.

"Such hostilities for someone I've never met." Sephiroth said, then paused. "Or have I met you? You seem familiar. Doesn't matter." Sephiroth cast Quake, and Rasputin was encased in earth.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked.

Rasputin growled and broke out of the rocks, drawing his other gun and aiming at Sephiroth.

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

Rasputin fired thirty-one rounds, effectively unloading each of his guns. Sephiroth, however, spun his sword with the speed of a tornado, and each bullet was deflected.

"Fuck," Rasputin said, beginning to reload. "Riou, I cloud use some help…"

As if on cue, Riou stood up on a platform of earth, with the White Materia in his hand.

"Sephiroth, behold!" he cried, "I hold in my hands your weakness!"

Sephiroth glanced at him, then recoiled, actually frightened.

"No! Impossible!" he cried.

Riou grinned, and held the materia out, as if trying to use it. Nothing happened. Riou panicked a little, and strained, trying with all his might to activate Holy. Again, nothing. Sephiroth and Rasputin stared, Rasputin in embarrassment, and Sephiroth in relief.

"Aw, come on!" Riou yelled, mad. "This is bogus!"

Sephiroth grinned and ran at Riou, sword drawn. Riou gasped, and, having nothing better to do, threw the materia at him. It hit Sephiroth in the chest with a dull _thud_ and hit the ground. Sephiroth stared at it for a second, then bent over, picked it up, and threw it back. It hit Riou in the stomach, and sent him tumbling down the mountain. Rasputin sighed.

"Loser…"

Sephiroth turned his attention back to his _actual_ enemy, but his sword was down.

"You both seem familiar," Sephiroth said. "What is your name?"

"Rasputin."

"Hmph. I sense Jenova's presence within you. I will spare you."

Sephiroth sprouted one lone, black wing, and took flight. Rasputin panicked, and ran after him, firing bullet after bullet.

"Stop!" he cried, and tripped over a rock. He continued firing, but he could no longer see the Dark Wing. "Fuck! _Fuck!_ Come back, you sorry bastard! Fight like a man!"

Riou clambered up to Rasputin, rubbing his shoulder.

"I am officially freaked."

"How the hell did this _happen_?"

(Part Six)

After the return of Sephiroth, another, more horrible thing occurred. The awakening of the Black Materia's true power. The planetary alignment combined with the burst of Mako from the Sister Ray set off a chain reaction. Sephiroth's twelve followers had given away their souls to give their leader more power, and their bodies were now empty shells. However, they became much, much more useful. The dozen shells moved through a small village, searching…

A small boy was running around his house, playing with his new toy sword. He ran around, slaying imaginary foes, and giggling. He ran outside and looked out, wary of possible enemies. He saw an old woman hobbling toward the house.

"Hey, momma?" he said. "Did you invite grandma over for dinner?"

His mother didn't look up from her boiling soup.

"Josh, honey, grandma is dead." she said. "She has been for three weeks. I know it's hard to…Josh?"

She looked up and didn't see her son anywhere. She walked to the door and opened it.

"Josh?"

In a few minutes, she would be reunited with her mother and her son, though, it would not be a happy one. Her screams were heard throughout the village, along with dozens more.

(Part Seven)

Vincent stared at Cloud for a moment, not sure what to say.

"What do you mean, 'Sephiroth is-'"

"He's alive." Cloud said. "I don't know how…but I feel him."

His phone rang at that moment, and he saw that it was Rasputin. He answered, trying to sound calm, but failing.

"Cloud, Sephiroth-"

"He's back…I know." Cloud said. "Wait, how do you know?"

"I fought him already." Rasputin said. "I…I shot him right in the face, and he just…flew away."

Cloud heard Riou yell at him in the background.

"I helped too, jack hole!"

"You threw a frickin' rock at him!"

"…it was an _old _rock!"

Cloud decided to interrupt before Rasputin pistol whipped Riou, as was his custom.

"Listen, Raz, I need you to contact Rufus Shinra. Tell him to get to the 9th, and get here yourselves, alright?"

"I hate Shinra…" Rasputin sighed. "But, alright, I'll call him."

"Thank you. Be careful."

"Always am."

(Broken again)

That's chapter two. Sorry for any errors that may have occured in grammer or spelling. Um...please leave a review, even if you don't like this. I felt sad at my one review from the co-author of the story.


	3. The virus spreads

Sorry, two days late. Geometry and Drama are consuming my being. This may be my last update for a little while, because due to reasons that are quite frankly no one's buisness, I might be without a computer for a while. So, on with chapter three.

(This is totally a page break)

It was an hour later. News of a horrible attack in a village had began circulating, but the situation with Shinra was still the top story. Rufus had Rude fetched the helicopter, and Reno, whom they couldn't seem to free from the vending machine, had been stuffed uncomfortably in the back. They were now at the 9th Heaven bar in Kalm. Rasputin and Riou were sitting at the bar, watching the news reports about them. Cloud and Vincent were sitting on a couch in the "Darts and Billiards" section, with Rufus sitting across from them, a beer in hand. Reno (and vending machine) were standing next to them, and Rude was hitting on Tifa at the bar. Rufus took a swig of his drink and began the discussion.

"Cloud, I'm sure you know better than anyone else on the planet about Sephiroth, but, are the three of you _sure_ he's back? Not just a mako mirage?"

Cloud nodded grimly.

"I can assure you, he's back."

Rufus sighed and shook his head.

"It's not that I didn't believe you," he said, "I was just being foolishly optimistic. It seems Hojo and my father intended to leave us with a…game, if you will."

At this, Reno perked up.

"You mean like solitaire?"

Rufus smacked him. Cloud rubbed his hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure I can handle another battle with him." he said, sighing. "What with Red and Yuffie not fighting anymore and Barret off with Marlene for her education, it leaves Vincent, Tifa and I."

Rasputin looked over at him, offended.

"Hey, don't forget Riou and I." he said. Rufus eyed him and stood up.

"Rasputin, can I speak with you alone?" he asked. Rasputin looked at him strangely and stood up, walking away from the rest of the group.

"What do you want, Shinra?" Rasputin asked harshly. Rufus went on as if talking to an old friend.

"Rasputin, you can't blame me for what Hojo did t-"

"If that's all you want, I'm leaving."

Rufus chuckled at him.

"Fine. I need you and Riou to keep an eye on Cloud. We need him as a sort of…bloodhound for Sephiroth. And for God's sake, teach Riou to use his brain."

They each glanced over at Riou, who was swatting at a fly. The fly landed on his hand and he grinned. He picked up a steak knife and stabbed the fly. Rufus and Rasputin grimaced as Riou giggled and muttered "Stupid fly."

"Riou," Rasputin decided to tell him of his stupidity, "you stabbed yourself."

Riou shrugged.

"I killed the fly."

At this, Rufus interjected.

"You're also profusely bleeding."

Riou shrugged at this as well.

"I'll just cast cure." he said. "Well, I saw the Grim Reaper today, and he had silver hair. I'm gonna go to bed after I piss myself. Night!"

Rasputin glared at him.

"We have silver hair, fucktard!"

"……Oh yeah."

Rasputin pistol whipped him in the head.

(Part Two)

A small group of people slowly walked toward the fisherman's boat that Riou had made his call next to. The captain saw them and figured they were tourists; he got extra money from sightseers every few weeks.

"Aye," he said, "Where everyone be headin'?"

One of the people groaned.

"Midgar it is, then!"

Another ran and jumped onto the boat.

"Hey, hey, fair's thirty-five gil a person!"

The man lunged and came into the moonlight. The captain saw that half of his face was gone, and his eyes were lifeless. Before the captain could utter a scream, the man was on top of him, taking a bite of his neck. The other creatures came aboard and proceeded to tear him apart.

(Part Three)

Back at the bar, Luna and Tifa were watching the news. Rasputin, Riou, and Vincent were all in bed. Cloud was leaning against the wall. Rufus was on the phone, contacting Elana and Tseng. He thought he may need all of his Turks for Sephiroth.

The newscaster was talking about an attack on a boat were the captain was left in several pieces. A picture of his attackers appeared on the screen via surveillance camera. It was a group of half a dozen. The picture was fuzzy. However, when the image was blown up, it was clear that they all had pieces of flesh missing, and their eyes were completely white.

"Jeez," Tifa muttered, "they look dead."

Luna's eyes were wide. Tifa glanced at her and saw that she was sweating madly. She put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Luna muttered something barely audible. Tifa asked her to repeat it.

"Syndrome…"

Luna jumped up and ran behind the bar, knocking bottles of alcohol to the floor. Glass and liquid littered the ground as Luna kept throwing bottles away in a panic.

"C'mon, c'mon, gin, rum, vodka…"she growled. "Where the fu-Aha!"

She stood up from the bar, and Tifa stared at her blankly. She was holding a gun that was roughly half her height and equivalent in width. She was grinning.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tifa shrieked. "Do you have any idea how much money that-"

Luna picked up a bottle of rum and took aim. She saw Cloud, and chucked it. Cloud let out a yelp and ducked just as the alcohol hit the wall. He glanced up and was about to say "Luna, what the hell?", however when he saw her, he was silent. She was aiming the gun.

"May wanna move, Chocobo Face." she said. Cloud gulped and jumped to the side just as she fired. The rum ignited and exploded, obviously leaving a large hole in the wall.

"Luna!" Tifa cried. "What the hell have you done to my bar?"

Luna shouldered her gun and began walking to the wall, which had stopped smoking. Inside were vials full of a gray liquid.

"My parents were scientists at the secret Umbrella portion of Shinra's company," she said, grabbing one of the vials. She sounded sad.

"Luna…"

Luna cleared her throat and shook her head.

"Anyway, something they worked themselves into insanity for…"she stared at the vial again, "is right here in my hand. I took the antidote for Twin Syndrome they were developing and perfected it.

"Those things that attacked the fisherman…they were infected. They're in stage one, a zombie-like state…The only way to kill them is to-"

Cloud interjected.

"We all know about zombies, Luna, but really. Do you expect us to believe that there are zombies attacking people?"

Luna ignored him.

"This thing is the antidote," she said. "It'll cure them."

Tifa looked at it skeptically.

"Is it…you know, safe? Legal?"

"Riou helped me with it."

"And I no longer feel safe."

(Part Four)

Sephiroth had returned to the Crater as soon as Rasputin and Riou had left. He was sure that he was too weak to fight them at just that moment. However, after his cronies had sacrificed their very souls, he was back in top fighting condition. Now he was pacing, muttering to himself.

"I must kill the Chocobo Head…"

He sent out a mental feeler to the places he knew Cloud to dwell for a while; Nibleheim and Midgar. Nothing.

"Where _is _he?" he stopped and began stroking his chin, secretly wondering why people did that when they think. "And how does he know that…_familiar_ man who shot me?"

Suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Of course!" he cried. "He and the man who now wears the mask were here before Strife and his merry band of morons."

He sent out another feeler, this time to figure out their names.

"Hm…Rasputin, Riou…" he chuckled and drew the Masamune from thin air, "So, they and Cloud have a common goal to kill me? Then I will show them what I can really do."

(Part Five)

Riou and Rasputin had left the bar along with everyone except Tifa and Cloud. They were at their small house, which they had built together two miles from the city. Riou had wanted to be in the city, but knew he would probably burn it down if Rasputin wasn't living with him to keep an eye on him, and Rasputin wanted his privacy. They were currently packing bags to take to the 9th, where they planned to live, along with everyone else, until the Sephiroth ordeal was over. The news was on. It was late in the night.

"Riou, are you almost ready?" Rasputin asked, zipping his bag. Riou slung a small bag over his shoulder and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Source of transportation?"

Crap…

Rasputin had forgot they had no vehicles. And they sure as heck didn't want to walk two miles at night weighed down by their luggage. Sephiroth may attack anywhere, anytime, anyone.

"Um…we could look for a chocobo."

Riou sighed.

"I don't think Cloud would appreciate us riding one of his relatives."

Rasputin sighed and pistol whipped him.

"Idiot."

Riou rubbed his head and muttered "ow…" and then sat down.

"Well think of something."

(Part Six)

In Midgar, at the Shinra building, Rufus, Reno, and Rude landed on the roof in the helicopter. They stepped out…well, Rude dragged Reno out, lifting the vending machine with quite a lot of effort. Reno was complaining, which didn't help.

"Why the hell can't you get me out of this damn thing? I mean, Rufus, you've got a freakin' shotgun! Shoot me the hell out! I'm bored…I'm hungry….I want a teddy bear…Mr. Snuffles! Why did you leave me?"

Rude sighed and continued walking, nodding to the guard. The guard nodded back and looked through his binoculars, with the infrared turned on, of course. You think I would forget an important detail like that? I think not. Anyway, the guard was looking at the ground around the building. He saw a very large group of people moving toward the gates of the compound. He picked up Cait Sith's HP Shout megaphone.

"Attention. This is a restricted area. Tresspassers will be shot if they ignore warnings. Please leave."

The group kept moving. The guard sighed and looked at his partner.

"Take one of 'em out, Craig."

The sniper nodded and aimed at the heart of one of the people. He fired a single shot. The bullet ripped through the man's chest and went into the stomach of a woman behind him. They both fell. The group kept moving.

"What the hell man?" Craig muttered. Then, the man and woman he shot each stood up slowly and walked toward the gates with the rest of the group. The guard turned and switched on the intercom.

"Close the gates!"

Rufus and his gang walked to the helicopter, with Tseng and Elana now in tow.

"Problem, guard?" the President asked.

The guard shook his head quickly and saluted.

"Good."

The Turks and the President walked to the helicopter (minus Reno, who was dragged, wailing about the evils of tuna fish) and boarded. They took off. The guard sighed and turned around, binoculars raised, and saw that the group was gone. He heard cries and gunshots.

"Oh no…"

He ran down the stairs and saw a gruesome scene. He only saw for a moment, however, as Craig appeared before him and ripped out his eyes.

(Part Seven)

Sephiroth had arrived in Icicle five minutes ago. He was there because he had sensed that Rasputin was there often. However, at this moment, it was completely deserted. He found this strange. Although it wasn't exactly Midgar, it wasn't a ghost town, either. He walked through the streets, feeling the effects of the temperature though not actually cold. He heard footsteps. He looked around and saw nothing.

"Hmph…" he muttered, stopping. His gut told him he would need his sword, so he took it out of nowhere, as was his custom. I'll have to ask him how he does that some day…Anyway, he held it tightly, expecting an attack at any time.

Just as he had though, a man crashed through a window behind him and lunged at him. Sephiroth whirled around and cut him in half at the stomach. The two halves each hit the ground at the same time, the half with the head face-down. Sephiroth stared at the corpse. The moonlight revealed that a large piece of the cranium was missing, exposing the gray matter betwixt everyone's ears.

'_What the hell?_' Sephiroth thought.

The body shuddered. Sephiroth paid this no mind. It happened every now and then. He turned around to leave. Then the torso let out a cry and began crawling toward Sephiroth. Sephiroth didn't make any noise, though this had startled him, as he turned around and impaled the man in the heart, pinning it to the ground.

"Persistent little bugger, aren't you?" he muttered. The creature (it was now obvious that it wasn't a man) was now trying in vain to crawl toward the Dark Wing. It was, inch by bloody inch, ripping itself in half. The stomach and intestines were already hanging out.

"Why won't you die?" Sephiroth shouted, and crushed it's head with his leather boot. All of the movement immediately stopped.

"There we go." Sephiroth said.

However, he was now out of the frying pan. The oven was warming up, and the chicken was soon to go in. Then, it would be marinated with an A1 sauce and served…Ahem.

Anyway, Sephiroth then heard more footsteps. He growled, expecting one, maybe two more of the creatures to come after him. However, every window in the town shattered and every door was ripped off it's hinges as a man, woman or child jumped out of them. Sephiroth gaped at this.

"Oh…Uh-oh."

(Chapter end)


	4. Chocobo chase

We finally got a reviewer! -does a hppy dance- Somebody likes us, sombody likes us! -cough- Right...um, anyway, The Great Susinko, I dedicate this chapter to you. Everyone else, please follow her example and review.

(This is totally a page break)

Back at Rasputin and Riou's house, the two had decided that, after the news, they would leave. They wished to see the news to see if Sephiroth's resurrection had been reported. However, they were half way through and he hadn't been mentioned. So they decided to leave. It was then that they heard the report they had been waiting for.

"This just in." the reporter said, "There has been a disaster in the city of Edge. The people are rioting and several dozen citizens are confirmed dead."

Rasputin stopped, foot halfway out the door. He turned around and sat on the couch, after pushing Riou off.

"Bingo." he said.

The news crew had moved to the scene, where a fire had broke loose. The reporter came to a stopped train and knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, may I ask-"

The door opened and the reporter stopped. The people were literally missing chunks of skin, and they all had a vacant look in their eyes. The reporter screamed and tried to run, but the dead men and women grabbed him and dragged him into the car.

Rasputin looked over at Riou.

"What's going on?" Rasputin asked.

Riou shrugged

"I changed the channel. It's just a movie."

"Somebody fucking help me!"

At this Rasputin began to doubt.

"You can't say fuck on TV!"

"It could be a movie channel, like HBO or something." Riou said.

They looked at the screen. KNN. Kalm News Network.

"Oh crap!" Riou yelled. "What do we do?"

Rasputin grabbed his phone.

"We call Cloud." he said, and dialed the number. The phone rang four times, and the answering machine picked up. Rasputin growled and closed his phone.

Riou entered the room and threw Rasputin his gun case.

"Have you seen my wakizashis?" he asked.

Rasputin sighed.

"They're in the holsters at the small of your back, like always."

Riou reached behind him and felt his weapons.

"Shut up."

"Idiot."

Riou grabbed his third weapon, a warhammer, and strapped it to the third holster on his back.

"We better get going," he said. "The girls might be in trouble."

They each grabbed their bags, which Rasputin quickly put his gun case in, and put them on their backs, then walked outside.

"Chocobos aren't fast enough for this." Rasputin said. He walked behind Riou and grabbed his arms, as if trying to put him into a submissive hold. "I hope you aren't afraid of heights."

Riou was about to ask why, when two pterodactyl-like wings sprouted from Rasputin's back. He jumped and the great wings began to flap. He began flying very rapidly toward Kalm. Riou began kicking his legs frantically.

"I'm terrified of heights, as it so happens!" Riou cried.

"Well, we'll be in Kalm in twenty minutes. Deal with it."

They flew in silence for several minutes. Riou's eyes were closed tightly and Rasputin was concentrating on his path. However, he saw many disturbing things. In the mere two miles separating their house and Kalm, fires had broke out, and there were bodies littering the ground. It took all Rasputin's control not to vomit.

"Riou," he said, "you may want to see this."

Riou hesitantly opened his eyes and saw the carnage below. He gagged a little, but didn't want to throw up inside his mask. Many of the people, who, even from this height, were obviously dead, began getting up and migrating.

"Man…" Riou said. "We're so screwed. It's times like this I miss Icicle."

"Like you've experienced times like this…" Rasputin said, then it hit him. "Oh no! My family is in Icicle! I have to make sure they're okay!"

Riou slipped out of his hands and began falling. Rasputin went to catch him, but Riou held out his palm.

"I'll meet up with you later!" he yelled, and a white smoke appeared around him, and with a _poof_, he was gone. Rasputin stared at the spot where he had been seconds before.

"Why didn't he just do that to start with?" he muttered aloud, and began toward Icicle.

(Part two)

In a tuft of white smoke, Riou appeared, kneeling, in the middle of a desolate street in what he thought to be Kalm. Cars were overturned, building were smoldering, and bodies were all over. Riou was already almost panicking as he stood up.

'_I'm too late…_' he thought, as he began to walk down the street. He saw a tuft of blond hair and ran to it, feeling a lump in his throat.

"Cloud! No!" he cried. The figure stood up and he stopped, seeing that it wasn't Cloud, but a chocobo. He sighed and relaxed. "Jeez, don't do that, you stupid bird."

The bird turned and revealed that it's eyes were white. Well, eye; half it's face was gone, and the other eye was vacant. It let out a guttural cry and charged at Riou. Riou proceeded to let out a small, girly scream and turn tail, hauling ass.

(Part three)

Rufus sat on the stairs of the bar leading to his makeshift bedroom, drinking a beer which he had insisted on paying for, even though Tifa tried to give it to him. He was trying in vain to drink away his pain.

"Damn you, father…" he muttered, crushing the empty can.

Tseng had stayed behind at the Shinra building, saying it was his duty to help the men and women who worked there. The rest had agreed, ruefully. However, they had barely made any distance when another zombie jumped onto the helicopter. The managed to keep it at bay until they reached the slums, then crash landed. They were close to a secure-looking building, and they ran to it. However, they were quite a way away, and before they could reach it, Reno, being held back by the vending machine, had been bitten in the small of his back. Ten minutes later, he was dead. Three minutes after that, he was back. They didn't have the heart to kill him, and he was now in the basement, still stuck in the machine.

Rude walked up to the President, the two of them being the only still awake. He stared toward the basement stairs for a minute.

"Do you think we can cure him?" he asked, finally.

Rufus shook his head grimly.

"I…don't know. We'll have to ask Luna if we can try her cure, but she hates me, as does Rasputin. I've contacted Highwind, though. He should arrive in the airship soon."

Both men's attention then turned to the outside when they heard the distinctive "wark" of a chocobo and the blubbering of a grown man. They each looked at each other.

"Riou?"

"Riou."

The men walked to the door and peered out, seeing a speck running toward them.

"Five gil says he gets here in one piece." Rufus said. Rude shook his head.

"I say he falls."

"You're on."

(Part four)

Rasputin was staring at the dead bodies littering the snow-covered streets of Icicle. He landed in a deserted street, probably the only one not littered with the dead and the turning, and his wings disappeared.

"My God…" he said, this time actually throwing up. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and sighed.

"At least Riou isn't here. He might see someone he thinks he knows…"

His head snapped to attention when he heard groans and screams from the next street. He drew his handguns from his coat and began running to the next street. When he got there, he was utterly shocked by what he saw.

Sephiroth was surrounded by zombies, and was hacking them to bits. The groans were of the creatures, and the screams were coming from him. Not screams of fear, but adrenaline.

"Sephiroth! What are you-"

His voice caught the attention of some of the zombies and Sephiroth barely even glanced at him before going back to hacking and slashing. However, the zombies were quite interested. They ran toward Rasputin hungrily. He put a bullet in the first two, each in the chest, but neither stopped moving.

"What the hell?" he cried, shooting them each in the neck.

"The head, you fool, the head!" Sephiroth cried, cutting off a head.

He impaled a zombie coming from behind in the chest, then brought his sword up, splitting it's head, neck, and upper torso in half. Rasputin took his advise and shot each monstrosity between the eyes. He looked around and realized he was surrounded.

"What are you doing here?" Sephiroth asked, cutting a woman in two, vertically.

Rasputin shot three rounds, ducked, dodging a zombie that jumped at him, and shot that one in the head before it hit the ground.

"I was about to ask you the same!" he said, standing and whirling around, eliminating two more men. "What the shit's going on?"

Sephiroth back flipped onto a nearby building, landing crouched on one knee.

"I do not know, but these things are very hard to kill."

Rasputin ran out of ammo and quickly followed Sephiroth's example and landed on the roof across from him, and began reloading.

"Yeah, well, so are you…" he said. "But…it can be…" he finished loading. "…_done_!"

Rasputin fired three shots and hit Sephiroth in the chest, stomach and head. The Dark Wing fell and landed on his back, barely still on the roof. Rasputin laughed.

"Ha! I did it!" he cried. "Now to get out of-"

"You really should stop doing that." Sephiroth drawled, slowly sitting up. "It isn't _pleasant_!"

Sephiroth quickly cast a Fire 3 spell without a materia. It was coming at Rasputin fast. His eyes were wide.

"Gilgamesh Barrier!"

The fire hit the house, which exploded, sending fiery splinters flying through the town, which landed and quickly caught the whole town on fire. Smoke billowed out from the house, and Sephiroth was standing in the temporary clear the explosion had created.

"A Gilgamesh technique." he said, thoughtful. "Impressive."

The smoke began to move away as Rasputin walked through, his eyes glowing bright red. A flaming zombie lunged at him. Without looking, he blew it's head off.

"I have _had _it."

(Part five)

Riou was running down the street as fast as he could trying to get away from the zombie bird, which was gaining rapidly. He goose-stepped over dead bodies. He saw a pile ahead of him and grinned. He jumped over them, then rebounded off of a car. However, as soon as he touched it, it exploded, sending him flying. He hit the ground hard.

Riou gazed from his position on the ground, seeing that the chocobo was increasing speed. He yelped, scrambled up, and began running again. He saw a building that looked sturdy, Rufus and Rude staring out at him.

"Out of the way!" he cried. "Out of the way, for the sake of your father's race!"

Wow.

He needed to stop reading Stephen King.

Either way, both men moved as Riou zoomed past them and into the house. Rufus grabbed his shotgun and fired, killing the dead chocobo and coming inside.

"You owe me, Rude," he said. The bald man sighed and started going through his wallet.

"He _did_ fall…" he muttered, then glanced up. Riou seemed to have awoke all of the zombies in the town. Rude walked in and slammed the door just as the first rays of sunlight began to come out.

(Part six)

Rufus was leaning on the wall, staring out the window.

"What a way to go…"

"The sun's coming up…" Rude said. "They're slowing down."

Riou sat down, panting.

"Whew…"

(Part seven)

Rasputin fired wildly at Sephiroth.

"Die! And this time, stay dead!"

Sephiroth spun the Masamune to deflect his adversaries bullets. A zombie flung itself through the flames around them and ran toward Sephiroth. He deflected a bullet at an angle, and it killed the once-man.

"Hey! Don't use my bullets to defend yourself!"

Rasputin stopped to reload again. Sephiroth held out his right hand.

"Stop!"

All the fire stopped immediately. The zombies froze in their tracks. The zombies that were on fire stopped and froze at the same time. Rasputin gazed around him, dumbstruck.

"What have you done?"

"We have a very limited amount of time," Sephiroth ignored Rasputin's question completely, "Now then, do you know-"

Rasputin charged at the silver-haired man in from of him, hoping for a point-blank shot. Sephiroth growled and disappeared, reappearing behind Rasputin, the blade of the Masamune pressed against his neck.

"Listen to what I have to say or I will act as if you were one of these creatures and decapitate you."

"_I hate you_." Rasputin snarled.

Sephiroth pressed his blade harder, so that it drew blood.

"I can only keep them frozen for a few minutes, and the fire gives us even less time."

"Fine. Speak."

"Do you know where these creatures came from?" Sephiroth inquired. A twinge of doubt came from Rasputin. He had been sure Sephiroth had done this. But then, why would he kill them?

"I don't know." Rasputin said, then ventured to guess. "I think the Mako from the shot that apparently revived you mutated these people as well. They seem to take after you."

"Doubtful."

"It's the best I've got."

"Why are they harder to kill than normal humans?"

The fire flickered ever so slightly. Rasputin saw in the glass on the ground that this distracted Sephiroth. He quickly turned around and held the gun to his face. Sephiroth's eyes widened.

"Like I said, they take after you!"

He pulled the trigger, fully expecting Sephiroth to somehow dodge, but to Rasputin's sheer elation, the bullet hit Sephiroth in the face and sent him flying onto his back. Rasputin didn't give him any chance to move. He unloaded his gun, fifteen shots, on Sephiroth's face. He looked up and saw that the sun was just starting to rise.

(Part eight)

Riou growled and walked out of the building, just meters away from the shuffling crowd. He motioned to Rufus, Rude, and the newly awakened Elana to stay inside.

"What the heck are you doing?" the blond girl asked.

"Trust me."

He waited for the horde to begin advancing toward him and held out his warhammer. Although his mask hid his expression, Rufus knew he was grinning. As soon as the horde was within grab-you-and-rip-your-face-off range, the weapon's tip opened in a mechanical way, and a huge beam of energy flew out, killing all of the dead.

(Chapter end)

Ooooh, Riou's showing off some power. Fun, huh? I've come to realize that I use the minor characters of the game quite a bit more than the main for a while. Hope you don't mind. Well, that's all for today. See you next week.


	5. Christmas visits Raz except not

No reviews plus biology, geometry and baptism made this update almost a week late. Other than that, enjoy, those of you who read and don't review because you aren't nice to us.

(This is totally a page break)

Luna shouldered her gun and looked out of her bar. It was the next morning, and the zombies were nowhere in site. However, everyone who was supposed to take up residence in hers and Tifa's bar were no where in site, either.

"Hmm…"she muttered. "Death, mayhem, chaos, and zombies." she sighed, and turned to Vincent, who had stayed up all night. However, because he was Vincent, he wasn't tired either.

"You two-" she pointed to Cloud and Vincent, Cloud being a little groggy, though he was ready to fight at any moment- "aren't going to pull one of those 'you-girls-stay-here-while-we-manly-men-take-care-of-this' things, are you?"

Vincent and Cloud looked at each other.

"Well, that had been the plan until a minute ago."

Tifa scoffed at them, pulling on her gloves.

"Y'know, Luna knows more about this than any of us. You can't just make us stay here!"

Luna grinned, rummaged through her pocket, and pulled out a vial.

"Especially seeing as how _I_ have the only known cure for the Syndrome."

Tifa nodded vigorously and said "Yup." Cloud sighed.

"If it weren't for the chest, I wouldn't put up with you."

(Part Two)

One hour earlier…

The fire around Rasputin and Sephiroth flickered back to life, and the zombies began moving again. Rasputin began shooting them again, but he was grinning. He sprouted his wings.

"This must mean he's dead," he said, meaning the zombies and fire.

He rose up and began flying toward Kalm.

Unbeknownst to him but knownst to us, Sephiroth _was_ gone, but in a different fashion. After being shot in the face repeatedly, he had had enough. When he knew Rasputin was no longer looking, he had teleported, hoping the zombies would finish his job.

Now…

Sephiroth had sent his mental feeler throughout the entire planet, and found Cloud in Kalm. He was walking toward it, wishing to conserve his strength until he reached his adversary. He was not even a mile away.

"Now…to find Cloud."

(Part Four)

The group had moved out of the bar, and were walking in the direction that Cloud was _sure_ Sephiroth was coming from.

"Now…" he muttered, "to find Sephiroth."

"Now…" Vincent muttered, "to play a larger role in the story."

(Part Five)

Rude and Rufus stared dumbstruck at Riou as he put away his cannon, which had turned back into a warhammer. The masked man took out his cell phone and dialed Rasputin's number. It rang twice, then the sound of it picking up was heard.

"Raz!…Raz?"

All that was heard was static. He cursed and walked outside. He looked up and saw the airship Highwind landing in front of him. He grinned and jumped over the rail. Rufus smiled and walked down the ramp. Rude grabbed the vending machine (and his zombiefied friend) and tossed it over the rail. Rufus and Riou stared at him and he shrugged. They walked towards the airship.  
(Part Six)

"Get outta the way, you damn ninja punk!"

A swing and a miss.

"C'mon, Cid! Everyone's on and I just got my license!"

Another swing. Another miss. Cid growled.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Yuffie had puppy-eyes now, but Cid was used to such things. "Just one test drive?"

"I'll throw you overboard." Cid said calmly. He saw the skeptical look in her eyes. "I will if you don't shut the hell up!"

Yuffie pouted and left the room, passing Rufus and Riou as they entered.

"Where are we heading first?" Rufus asked.

"I say we pick up everyone at the bar, then find Raz." Riou said.

"Fine, fine." Cid said, then muttered "Not even a damn hello…"

(Part Seven)

Rasputin was at that point in time flying towards Kalm. He was also bored, because the flight was taking a while. And what happens when Rasputin Dante Karkaram gets bored? Very ugly things happen. Such as what was happening now.

"I'm Mister White Christmas, I'm Mister Snow!" he sang. "I'm Mister Icicle, I'm Mister Ten Below! They call m-Hey, what's that?"

There was an object flying toward him. It was a large ship, complete with propellers and a half naked woman painted on it. Riou was sitting on the deck, drinking sake. He waved the bottle at Rasputin.

"Hm." Rasputin said to himself. "Tre convenient."

He landed on it as his wings disappeared. He grinned and nodded to Riou. His response was a belch.

"Hey R-hic-Raz!" Riou cried merrily. "Mmmmm….alcohol."

"Why?" Rasputin said, looking at the clouds. "What did I do to you?"

Cloud walked to onto the deck. He stepped over Riou and looked at his other silver-haired friend.

"Rasputin…" he said. "Your hometown…"

"Hey man, I killed Sephiroth!" Raz said, shrugging. "And I hadn't been there in years anyway…"

"You fought Sephiroth?" Cloud said, looking concerned. Rasputin drew his gun and spun it smugly.

"A few shots in the fa-"

"He's still alive." Cloud said, and walked away. Rasputin's smug look melted. At this point, Yuffie decided to show up.

"Hey Rasputin!" she cried. "How's it-"

Rasputin shot her in the face and she fell to the ground, twitching. And there was much rejoicing.

(Part Eight)

Everyone was on the deck. Rufus and Rude were leaning against the wall, discussing the business end of the terrible events of recent. You thought I was gonna say of late? BAM! Surprise! Ahem…Riou was sitting on the rail, Rasputin and Vincent were sulking in the corner, and Cloud was leaning over the rail. Riou sighed.

"It's been a weird couple of days, huh?"

Everyone looked at him strangley. Then, Riou noticed that Cid was sitting cross-legged on the ground, smoking a cigarette.

"Hey Cid?"

"Yeah?"

"If you're here, and Yuffie is dead, who's piloting?"

"…shit."

Riou yelped and grabbed a pole.

"Cid, get your ass to the wheel!"

Cid nodded, got up, slipped, hit his head on the rail, read an EGM, played three games of solitaire and passed out. Vincent, having not moved from his sulk-next-to-the-original-character position, looked over the rail and saw Cosmo Canyon.

"We are accelerating toward Cosmo Canyon with no way to stop ourselves in time before exploding and most likely dying."

"…huh?" Cloud looked dumbfounded. Rasputin decided to elaborate by punching his right fist into his left palm.

"We crash into Cosmo, go boom."

Riou shook his head.

"Man, even I understood that."

(Part Nine)

Luna and Tifa, who had been in the cabin poking Yuffie's dead body and giggling, looked up to see Cid, very disoriented, running toward the wheel.

"Damn damn damn damn damn!" he cried, pushing Luna onto the ground and into a pile of ninja blood.

"Ew!" she cried in horror. "Gross!"

Cid tripped and slammed his head into the window just as the rest of the group ran into the cabin. He slid down, muttering something that sounded a lot like "fucking Hannibal King…". Rasputin grabbed Luna's arm and helped her up.

"I suggest you grab something sturdy." he said. Luna nodded.

(Part Ten)

A small tomcat sat on a rock a mile or so outside the canyon, playing with a mouse. He trapped the creature under his paw, allowed it to run, then began batting it around before it got any distance. The cat was just about to eat the mouse alive when sucked up into the engine of a passing airship and torn to tiny, tiny pieces. The suction merely bounced the mouse onto the deck of the ship.

"Damn!" Cid said again. "Impact in ten seconds!"

Vincent tripped over Yuffie's body and crushed a small creature under his boot. He held it up to his face and saw that it was a mouse.

"Gross…"

Cloud looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Fight after fight after fight with Sephiroth and a cat's gonna kill me!"

"I've always hated cats…" Rasputin muttered. Riou rolled his eyes, grabbed Luna, and jumped out the window. Everyone stared at this for about two seconds. Then, Vincent and Cid followed the example.

"I am _so_ claiming this was my idea." Rasputin said as he also jumped. Soon, the entire ship was empty, save for a mechanical Irish cat.

"Hey, what's goin'-"

The Highwind overshot Cosmo Canyon and landed in the Ancient Forest. It exploded on impact, and the forest caught fire. Cait Sith died. Reeve, who shouldn't really have been effected by the mechanical death, suffered a fatal heart attack, by which I mean rock to the head, and was no more. And there was much rejoicing.

(Part Eleven)

Riou awoke first, his head throbbing. His already mask impaired vision (he had no peripheral, but he made due) was fuzzy. He was face down in what he hoped was mud, and he was certain at least one bone was broken. Probably his spine. He sat up and shrugged. Nope. Not the spine.

He wiped off the maybe-mud-probably-dung and looked around. Everyone else had landed either on their backs or on their sides. Stupid people. Riou decided that he would kill them all whilst they slumbered. Then he looked again and grinned, peering at Tifa's unmoving form.

"Alright!" he said, crawling over to her. "CPR!"

He leaned down, but before he could lift his mask, he received a fierce kick in the bojangles. For those who don't know, bojangles means testicles. He yelped and fell over. Tifa stood up, along with Cloud and Rasputin. Riou was up in seconds.

"Didn't that hurt?" Cloud asked. Riou shrugged.

"I've built up an immunity." he said, then sighed sadly. "Well, that's about as much eroticism as I'll ever see."

Vincent sat up and patted him on the back.

"You might get lucky…someday."

"Yeah, don't lose hope." Cloud said. Riou's eyes clouded up.

"Thanks guys."

Rufus stood up, looked at the bizarre display, then helped Elana to her feet. After making sure she was alright, he looked over to the rest of the group, now all awake.

"We need to form into groups."

Everyone nodded. Now the dibs calling began.

"I call Vincent!" Rasputin cried.

"Reno." Rude said.

"Tifa's mine." Cloud called.

And the calling of people went on.

"Man…this _sucks_." Riou said. "I've got Yuffie's body and a dismembered robot…"

Red XII clambered up to the group, eyes wide.

"How did you survive?" he asked. Riou jumped on him.

"I call the tiger!"

Rasputin hit him with his pistol.

"You and I go together at all times, numbskull."

"Kinda like me and Tifa." Luna said, ignoring Red's mutterings of humiliation.

"Red and I shall count as one!" Riou exclaimed.

Tifa was cowering behind Cloud. She glanced at the masked man.

"I don't want to go with Riou." she said. "He scares me."

Cloud patted her shoulders.

"You'll go with Luna and Rude. I need to stay with Riou and Vincent." Cloud said. Then he turned around and saw Reno's reanimated corpse standing up. Then machine was shattered. Rude was staring at him and backing up.

"And we do what about this?" Rufus asked. Rude shrugged and Reno lunged.

"Uh-oh."

Cloud held out a materia and Reno dropped. Everyone gaped at him.

"What?" Cloud said. "I didn't kill him, it's a Sleep materia."

There was collective "Oooooh…." Everyone looked toward the smoking forest. Cosmo was further than that forest, and walking in the open was not a good idea. However, after the group had met Cid for the first time, they had went to Midgar and picked up the truck and motorcycle used to escape the Shinra building.

"Do you think the vehicles are in tact?" Rufus asked. Elana shook her head.

"I doubt it to the point of surety." she said. Rufus raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged.

"It can't hurt to check it out." Tifa said. Cloud nodded. Luna shrugged.

"Rufus," Cloud said, "Why don't you, Rude, Riou and I go?"

"Why such a motley crew?" Rufus asked.

"Two from your side and two from ours."

"I thought we were on the _same_ side?" Elana said.

"You're the government types." Cloud said, shrugging. "I'm a delivery boy."

"Which, when you stop to think about it, is really sad." Rasputin decided to interject at this point. "I mean, you were in Shinra, then you were a mercenary, both respectable jobs…and then you deliver packages for below minimum wage. How'd that happen?"

Cloud glared at him. Rasputin wasn't intimidated, but he shut up. He looked around for Riou to say something, but he couldn't find him.

Riou and Rude were already moving. Cloud and Rufus saw this and scrambled to get to them. They walked the short distance to the forest silently. Except for Riou, of course.

"I'm so bored…" he said. "That truck better be in tact."

(Part Twelve)

"So, what do _we_ do for transportation?"

Rasputin's question hung in the air unanswered. Rufus was the one who had found the truck and motorcycle, both better than in tact, but without even a single scratch. Riou had inquired as to how this was possible. Rufus had pointed his shotgun at the masked man.

"My friend Shooty McKillyouinthefacerson says that you don't care." he had said.

Now they stared at the vehicles in wonder. Reno was loaded in the back of the truck, where Red XIII was keeping an eye on him, armed with Sleep. Elana, Luna, and Tifa were all in the front seat of the truck, Rude was in the passenger seat, and Rufus was in the drivers seat. This, however, left only one motorcycle, which could seat a maximum of two people. Vincent, Cloud, Riou and Rasputin were more than two. They were twice as many as two. This created a mathematical problem in the seating arrangement.

"Well…" Rasputin said, "I can fly for a few hours, and Vincent has that…cape…thing."

Riou wandered off into the wreckage as this was pondered. Vincent spoke up first.

"My cape only permits me a maximum of thirty minutes of travel." he said. Rasputin cursed so well that it brought a tear of pride to Cid's eye. Riou retuned carrying two large sheets of metal. He had replaced his mask with a welders mask.

"This can only end in horror." said Luna, and hid behind Tifa, who hid behind Cloud, who uttered a short prayer.

Riou bent down, gave a thumbs up, and took out his warhammer. He hit a button and a torch came out. He put it to the metal, and in minutes, each sheet was in an open dome shape. No one dared ask what was happening. They were afraid of exploding, thanks very much. However, Riou seemed fine. Within a silent twenty minutes, the motorcycle had two sidecars. Riou stood up and took off the welders mask to reveal-

-his other mask.

"How did you manage to see?" Rufus asked. Riou shrugged and danced around the cycles, screaming 'weeeee'.

"How did he even manage that?" Cloud asked. Vincent replied in one of his very rare jokes.

"He's MacGuyver in disguise."

Riou grinned and hopped into the drivers seat.  
(End of chapter)

Spot the mistake in a review and you get a cookie. Ciao.


	6. Hell in the Canyon

God I'm late. I'll have to punish myself. Wait, why do I care? No one's reading this. You're fools, y'know. It's the greatest story ever.

(This is totally a page break)

A Corel Prison guard leaned against the gate of the Gold Saucer, panting heavily, as his partner ran past him.

"This…job…sucks." he breathed. His partner turned around and slapped him.

"We've gotta do this for the survivors! The elevation is important."

The first guard nodded, and looked over the edge, seeing the horde they had just barely managed to get away from. He picked up a rock and nodded. Throwing it over, he said, "I feel sorry for the prisoners."

(Part Two)

A gun appeared over the canyon, something that was once pale but now burnt almost into pure black attached. It was an arm. Another appeared shortly after, and soon, an entire person appeared, black hair longer than he would have liked, skin burnt and cracking. Skinny didn't even begin to describe him. He pulled himself up, and lay on the ground, panting.

"So…so long…" Dyne said. "It took too long for me to climb this canyon…" he coughed, and stood. "But I'm alive…Barret….I'll find you. And when I d-"

He was cut off. A rock fell from the Saucer, and hit him in the head. He grunted and fell over the side again.

(Part Three)

Riou leaned out the side of the hastily made sidecar, the wind blowing his hair everywhere. He had wanted to drive, but his three companions had decided that that was not a good idea. Cloud was piloting the motorcycle, Vincent sitting behind him, and Rasputin and Riou on either side of them.

"You're gonna fall out."

Riou shook his head.

"Am not! I'm totally…oh my sweet God in heaven."

"Riou?"

Everyone looked at what he seemed transfixed by. It was the Canyon. The truck stopped, the motorcycle not far behind it. They stared at a massive fire. Cosmo was in flames. Every citizen, had they been alive or struck with the Syndrome, now lay dead. A building toppled. As it fell, Red XIII, through his grief at the sight of his home engulfed in embers, saw him. A lone figure stood, hair wildly flapping in the wind.

"It was him!" Red screamed. "Sephiroth!"

Riou and Rufus had already seen him and drawn their weapons. Cloud was next, followed by Rasputin until everyone had a weapon, minus Rude, who fought with his fists anyway. Silly Rude. Sephiroth laughed from his vantage point above them and pointed his sword-not to Cloud, but Riou. This shocked everyone.

"Boy," Sephiroth called, "does this blaze remind you of anything?"

All eyes turned to the masked man, most in question. Rasputin's, however, contained horror. Riou jumped off of his bike and drew his wakizashi. He began running, ignoring the shouts of protest.

"You bastard!" Riou yelled. Sephiroth jumped off of his perch above them and grinned.

"Riou! _No_!"

Riou's world went blank. Everything was gone except for an unimaginable sense of pain. He saw nothing but white. He was vaguely aware that he coughed, completely unaware that there was blood in the cough. He was even less aware of the fire that burned his arms. He came back to the world as he felt himself being lifted, impaled at the stomach, weakly clutching the Masamune. Sephiroth was laughing.

"I find it funny, Riou," Sephiroth said, "do you not? After all, I killed your mother in a smiliar fashion."

Riou let his hands drop. His vision was going out.

"Monster…"

Sephiroth pulled his sword back and flung him to the ground. The group was already on the approach, wanting to help. Vincent reached him first. He knelt and held Riou in his arms.

"Can you breath?" he asked. Riou barely moved, but the movement was a nod. Rasputin arrived and knelt to his friend. He took him from Vincent as though they were passing an infant. The entire party was now gathered around him, forgetting Sephiroth for a moment.

"Riou," Rasputin said, eyes filling, voice quivering, "do you have a Cure materia? We can fix this."

"No materia can 'fix' an injury inflicted by my blade." Sephiroth sneered. Rasputin glared at him.

"Son of a bitch!"

Riou laughed weakly and Rasputin's attention again went to him. The masked man held out materia. It was pure white.

"Don't worry about me."

"No!" Sephiroth yelled, and lunged at Riou, Masamune raised.

Sephiroth was about to get his job done when the people he killed began rising up through the fire. He was thrown off balance when one of these people grabbed for his leg. He decapitated it, then turned back to his target.

Riou struggled to his feet, holding his wound to stop the bleeding. Rasputin held his shoulders, keeping him steady. Cloud and Vincent drew their weapons and began to fight off the oncoming creatures; they refused to refer to them as zombies. Rufus and the others gazed at the four for several moments. Tifa and Luna began to move toward him, to help with the hole in his stomach, but Riou held out his hand, then turned to Rasputin.

"Raz…"he said, "hold then off for me. I'll take them all out at once with my Limit."

Rasputin nodded, and turned to the others.

"Don't worry about him," he said, drawing his guns, "just keep them off of him, along with tall, dark, and evil."

There was hesitation in the faces of most of the group. Rude and Rufus where the only two who began moving, wordlessly, toward the horde. Elana and Luna began to protest.

"Go, damn it!" Rasputin said, and leapt to the horde, shooting several people in the head. Cid growled, cursed, and followed. Soon, everyone else followed.

Sephiroth chuckled lightly, getting out of his offensive stance and gazing at Riou, who was holding his wakizasis at his sides.

"I can't help but be curious." Sephiroth said to himself. Cloud, who happened to be next to him at the time, cut down a woman and snared.

"You'll see soon enough, Sephiroth."

Vincent was shooting with both the Death Penalty and the Cerberus, jumping over small groups, and easily taking out several with each shot. However, he knew that an entire city of enemies would be a problem. He turned to Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth!" he cried, "I know we've always been enemies-" he shot one that was going after Riou- "but we need help."

Sephiroth crossed his arms and sneered.

"No."

Rasputin growled and jumped over Elana, shooting a creature as Rufus slid on his back below her, shooting wildly.

"They'll com after you, too!" Rasputin said to Sephiroth. Cloud stopped by Riou.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Riou nodded. He crossed his blades in an 'x' shape, and a flame swirled around him.

"_Hell's Lunge_!"

Riou threw his weapons. They made an arcing path, cutting down dozens of zombies before boomeranging back into his hands. As soon as they entered his hands, the fire around them dissipated and concentrated on the path. Riou cut off two heads, then sheathed his swords and took out his warhammer. He ran. He ran hard. As he ran, he made wide arcs with his weapon, taking out anywhere from five to nine people with one swing. He reached a wall of fire and jumped through, his warhammer catching flame.

It was a little known fact, but Riou liked his warhammer much more than his wakizashis. So it was a large surprise when it caught flame, because Riou allowed it to happen. Everyone had stopped fighting to watch his Limit. Cloud and Rasputin where the two who were shocked by the fire.

Riou emerged on the other side of the flame wall and continued running, still taking out several zombies in a single hit, but now leaving a streaking fire path. Even those he missed caught fire. He slashed and hacked away, killing everything in his sight. He went on for three minutes, and by the end of it, all of the men, women, and children that had been turned were dead.

Riou put his warhammer away and turned to the group. He gave a weak thumbs up, then fell to the ground.

"Riou!"

Rasputin ran to help him. When he reached him, he picked him up as if carrying a bride, and shook him, trying to wake him up. It did no good. By then, then entire group had circled around them in concern, save for Sephiroth, who was still in shock that the masked idiot had held so much power. He barely noticed that his enemies where beginning to walk away, hoping to find a doctor that was still alive. He noticed even less when a zombie jumped out at him. It was a woman, who's left half from the shoulder to the hip had been cut off. She was on fire, but she was hungry. Sephiroth turned just as she almost had her fangs in him.

'_Impossible!_' was all he could think before-

_Blam!_

The woman fell, her head, neck, and chest now missing. Sephiroth gazed at the body for half a second, then turned around, seeing Vincent putting away his gun.

"Why-"

But he would get no answer. Vincent turned wordlessly and ran to catch up with his group. Sephiroth stood amidst what was left of the city of Cosmo Canyon, astonished at his being saved.

(Part Four)

After the wanderers had left the area of the Canyon, they had gained a sense of calmness. Cloud said that Sephiroth would probably be no problem for a while, so they were good. Rasputin had decided to carry Riou to the vehicles, which they had found destroyed. A likely cause? Fire. So they began walking aimlessly. It was almost sunrise.

There had been small talk amongst them, of course, but nothing really serious. Rufus was on the phone, and Rude was listening intently. Rasputin decided to ask a very important question in a very sophisticated manner.

"Vincent, why in the name of Hades' left nut did you save him?"

Okay.

So much for sophisticated.

Here's an unnecessary sentence.

"Just as Cloud thought that I should be the one to kill Hojo," Vincent began, (after the battle, Hojo had been left twitching on the ground. Cloud told Vincent to put a bullet in his head) "I think Cloud should be the one to kill Sephiroth."

Rasputin growled.

"Stupid honor systems."

Riou stirred, and raised his hand.

"Chocolate bunnies…"

He then passed out again. Rude lifted his head up.

"Poor guy."

Rasputin jumped and almost dropped his friend.

"Holy shit, where'd you come from?"

Rude shrugged.

"My mother." he said, then pointed ahead, where a truck had been left, abandoned. "We have word to go to the Gold Saucer."

He lifted Reno's limp body and put him in the back of the truck.

"Hey, why did we free him?" Cloud asked. "That was the authors' only running joke."

Rude shrugged.

"God bless him, though," he said, "Nathan is the greatest."

At that point, a large teen in a green Family Guy "Everybody loves a fat guy" t-shirt and blue jeans appeared. He had brown, messy hair, and was growing a stubble of beard.

"You and Tifa aren't gonna do it," Nathan said, "so quit sucking up."

Next to him, a girl of sixteen appeared, with short blond hair, faded blue jeans, and a striped shirt appeared.

"Yeah," Liz said, "let's have Riou do it, cuz he's so perfect and cool."

Nathan growled at her as a fifteen year old boy appeared next to them. He had shoulder-length blond hair, was wearing a black Devil May Cry "Rebellion Hath Spoken" t-shirt and baggy black pants adorned with chains.

"No more author interjections, guys!" Corey said. "This is fine in the notebook, but I gotta put this in paragraph form, don't forget! Jeez."

Liz sighed.

"You guys depress me." she said, and disappeared. Nathan sneezed and disappeared with Corey.

Cloud blinked and looked at Vincent.

"What was that about?"

Vincent shrugged.

"I think Corey just wanted people to know what they look like."

I did. So sue me. Anyway, on with the story.

(Part Five)

Riou groaned and opened his eyes. He was dizzily aware that he was laying on the ground. He coughed and felt his stomach, trying to find his wound. It was gone. That woke him up quickly. He sat up and looked around. The sky, ground, and everything in between was totally black, except for what Riou recognized as the Lifestream flowing in the sky.

'_Am I dreaming?_'

He stood and noticed that he could see with his entire field of vision. He touched his face. His mask was gone. He looked down and saw that everything else was where is should have been. He looked around and saw his reflection in the Lifestream above him. The scars that were the reason for his mask were gone. He was staring at what his face should have been; that of a handsome young man. Tears filled his eyes and he dropped to his knees.

"Where am I?" he cried out. His voice echoed as a figure in a black cloak appeared behind him.

"The collective unconsciousness." he said. Riou turned around and gazed at him.

"Jesus?"

The figure laughed softly and took off his hood.

"No. I'm just the Doorkeeper."

The figure had mako eyes, and long, spiky, black hair. Riou scratched his head.

"You look familiar…" he said. "What's your name?"

"Zack."

Realization hit Riou in the face. Hard. With brass knuckles.

"I thought so!" he said. "Hey, anyone ever tell you you look like Cl-"

Zack had a scythe pointed at Riou quite quickly.

"Say it and you die."

Riou crossed his arms.

"Fine…So why am I here?"

Zack put his weapon away and turned around as millions of white doors appeared.

"The flash of light before your eyes that's supposed to happen when you die…Ever since I was killed, that's been me. If it weren't for your materia, you'd be dead already, and you wouldn't have had those few minutes alone."

Riou stared at him as he walked toward a door. He pulled out a golden key from his sleeve and unlocked it, and slowly, slowly opened it.

"This is your childhood." Zack said.

Riou materialized a box of popcorn.

"Alrighty, let's go." he said.

"Right, let's…where did you get that popcorn?"

Riou grinned.

"Mastered Popcorn materia."

(End o' the chapter)

Well, that's a bit of fun, huh? I DON'T CARE IF YOU AREN'T READING! I'll torture you by putting the entire thing up anyway. Ha!


	7. Riou's demons

Holy geez it's been over a month. I've been really bust as of late, and some personal things have come up, but I've started writing again. I'll put the next chapter up in a few minutes. Oh, and the parts in italics are flashbacks.

(This is total a page break.)

_A cold Nibelheim day…Very little wind, and just the right temperature for a romantic walk. SOLDIER would arrive soon, and take the hotel and a few houses for lodging. They had to investigate the reactor, and giving up your house for a few days isn't too bad, is it?_

_The children were playing outside. Nobody knew the name of the game, but when you're a child, that doesn't matter. What matters is the game itself. Whether you're playing or not. As the boy of no more than ten looked outside at his friends, he sighed. He wanted so badly to be out there._

"_F-salts…" he muttered. Then, he saw white and felt a hard pain as a book was hurled across the room at his head._

"_Riou!" his mother screamed. "Get back to studying!"_

_Riou rubbed his head, holding back tears. He reopened his "Advanced Quantum Physics" text book and looked at the complex equations, ignoring the knock at the door._

"_The Bohr Model of Photon energy," he muttered, "h times f is equal to-"_

"_E to the power of u minus E to the first power." a strange voice said. Riou looked up and saw General Sephiroth smiling at him. _

"_Hi there," his companion, a man he would later know as Zack, said, "We're from Shinra, and we're gonna need this house for a little while, okay?"_

_Riou grinned and nodded as Sephiroth turned to a young man who had just taken off his helmet, revealing spiky blond hair._

"_You said you had family here." Sephiroth said to him. "Go ahead and…"_

(Part Two)

The rest of the words drowned out as Riou turned to Zack, an incredulous look on his face.

"Dude, this ain't my life," he said. "I grew up in Icicle, and darn sure never knew quantum physics."

Zack shook his head.

"You grew up right there in Nibelheim, Riou, and you knew physics quite well, but constant head trauma made you forget it all…and your phone number, and your mother's name and-"

"Shut up."

(Part three)

_Tifa walked out of her house and smiled proudly._

"_Okay, I'll be your guide up the mountain!" she beamed. Her father ran out of the house hurriedly with his camera._

"_General Sephiroth! Maybe I could…"_

_Riou sat on top of the water tower nearby, sniffling._

"_She said she'd hang out with me today…"_

(Part Four)

"Wow…" Zack said, "You were a really whiny kid."

"I was not!" Riou whined.

(Part Five)

_Riou sat on his knees a few days later, looking into the basement window of the Shinra mansion. The General was reading something, but Riou couldn't tell what. Sephiroth punched the wall. It cracked, and a large spider crawled out of the hole._

"_Why…" he muttered, and the yelled "Why wasn't I told?"_

(Part Six)

"Do you remember now?" Zack asked.'

"Kinda…" Riou said distractedly from behind him.

"Good." Zack turned around to see Riou watching a TV, Invader Zim showing, that had manifested itself. "Hey, what the-?" Zack punched him in the head.

"Back to your life!"

(Part Seven)

_A villager crashed into the wall of his house and slid down. As soon as he hit the ground, a small red line appeared on his chest, then exploded, blood flying everywhere. However, he had been dead before he even touched the wall._

_The city of Nibelheim was on fire, and currently almost everyone there was either dead or dying. Only a select few were still alive, including Tifa and her father, Zack and Cloud, Riou's mother, and Riou. _

_Sephiroth had cracked in a big way, and the city, no, the species that had lied to him would pay._

_Riou's mother held her son behind her back, staring Sephiroth in the eyes. Sephiroth was raising his sword and grinning._

"_You're a monster." she cried. Sephiroth brought his sword down, and she was cut in two. Riou screamed in horror as his mother fell in halves in front of him. He dropped to his knees and began crying as Sephiroth laughed._

"_Riou…" his mother choked, her mouth filling with blood. Her last words followed: "I'm sorry…"_

"_Mommy? Sorry for what? Mommy? Mommy!" Riou wailed, barely noticing that Sephiroth was raising his sword again._

"_You needn't cry, child." Sephiroth grinned. "You'll join her soon."_

_Riou looked up, seeing that Sephiroth was standing, right arm holding the head of someone he had killed like a trophy, left holding the Masamune, legs apart. Just before he brought down his giant sword, Riou took his chance, and, seeing blurrily because of his tears and the fire, brought his foot up, hitting his target._

_Sephiroth grunted and fell to his knees briefly as Riou ran behind him, toward the reactor. Sephiroth sliced the air behind him without turning around, hoping to kill the kid anyway, but all he managed to do was leave a cut across the small of his back that would leave a permanent scar._

_The General stood, and began walking towards the wall of flame that separated him and his last few targets. However, a couple of survivors stood in his way. He would kill them just as Zack emerged from the mansion, and his famous fire scene would follow._

(Part Eight)

The group had managed to get to the Gold Saucer within two hours, Riou still completely dead to the world. They had reserved two rooms (at an insanely inflated price) at the Ghost Hotel by all throwing in a generous amount of money. Vincent, Cloud and Rasputin had opted to take a room with Riou to look after him while everyone else looked for news as to what was going on. Cloud was sitting in a chair, Rasputin was changing the rag on his friends head (whose mask was pulled down to reveal a horribly scared forehead), and Vincent was staring out the window at the large horde that had gathered around the building.

"There are easily a hundred thousand of the…what have we decided to call these things?"

Cloud and Rasputin shrugged.

"What we need to concern ourselves with," Rasputin said as he put the new, cold and wet, rag on Riou's head, "is where the things came from."

"I'd bet my life that Sephiroth is somehow responsible." Cloud said. Vincent shook his head.

"If they are his followers, why did Rasputin find him killing them?"

"Maybe he can't control them." was Cloud's response.

"Followers…" Riou murmured in his sleep. "Sacrificed…souls…Sister…mako…"

The three conscious men in the room each raised one eyebrow..

(Part Nine)

Zack came out of the white door first, followed by Riou. Riou was a little shaken by the sight of his mother's death, but the memories were flying back at him. They walked silently for a few minutes, then came to a clearing in the doors. In the clearing were only two doors; one black, the other gray. Zack opened the black door and beckoned Riou to go in.

"Alright…" he said, "this is it."

(Part Ten)

_Riou ran as fast as he could away from the smoldering village of Nibelheim, ignoring the sign he passes for a moment. After running a few yards, he turns and picks the sign out of the ground. It reads "Caution: Nibelheim Reactor is off limits. Authorized Personnel Only." Riou shrugged and looked back to see Sephiroth following him._

"_Eep!" Riou eep'd, and chucked the sign at the man in black. Without watching to see if it hit the target, Riou turned and ran. _

_As Riou saw the reactor come in to view, he grinned and sped up. Surely this reactor would be a safe haven, with no real threat to human life, right? After all, what could a super villain possibly want at a crummy old mako reactor?_

_His mother._

_Riou sat at the entrance of a separate room, panting but grinning. He had escaped the inescapable. And for that, he was proud. He glanced over and saw Tifa's father huddled in the corner. Riou grinned and waved._

"_Hey Mr. Lockheart!" he said. "Good to see you're safe."_

_Mister Lockheart looked over at him, shaking violently._

"_None of us are safe. Sephiroth will kill us all."_

_Riou looked at him and shook his head. The fire had driven him insane. Poor man…_

_Riou stood up and looked in the room he was in front of. There were pods in rows, and separating the room into two halves was a staircase. Riou walked up a little to see what the sign at the top of the stairs said._

"_Jenova." Riou read aloud. "Weird…"_

_The boy shrugged and walked into the room. It was dark, with an eerie green glow. Riou looked around while walking and saw an iron maiden-like thing. It looked sort of like an angel, only it had a black and white mask. Riou stared, wide-eyed at it._

"_Mother…" he said, walking toward it. "I've come to free you, mother…"_

_Riou reached out to the metallic maiden. He was going to rip it off. He had to. He _had _to free-_

_Riou shook his head violently, staring at the metallic false angel. That thing was evil, and he knew it. Without really knowing why, he took the mask from the statue. It revealed an expressionless woman's face which was much creepier than his (although he didn't know it) soon permanent accessory. Riou shuddered and stuffed the mask in the pocket of his hoody. _

_Riou walked out of the odd room, past the creepy pods, and into the boiler-like room he had ran into Tifa's father in. He found Mr. Lockheart standing against the wall, eyes closed, arms folded._

"_Hey, you alright?" Riou said, putting his arm on the man's shoulder. _

_Mr. Lockheart dropped to his knees, then to the floor. He lay sprawled out, and began bleeding profusely. Riou shrieked in horror. Then he heard laughter. He looked up and saw Sephiroth, the Masamune dripping with Mr. Lockheart's blood. Riou backed up against the wall as the Dark Wing jumped in front of him. Sephiroth raised his blade and held it in front of Riou's neck._

"_Now, boy, I'll kill you."_

_Sephiroth shot forward, but Riou had already moved onto a pipe and had ran up the stairs._

"_Damn…" Sephiroth muttered. "He's fast."_

_Sephiroth's eyes widened as he felt a cold he had never experienced before, and turned around, hearing Jenova call to him. Sephiroth walked into the room, and climbed the stairs. The boy could wait._

_Mother was waiting._

(Part Eleven)

Riou stepped out of the door. The Lifestream and the endless field of doors, as well as Zack himself, were all beginning to fade away. Said Doorkeeper ran a hand through his hair and clapped the unusually silent young man.

"You're about to wake up." Zack said. Riou nodded, having guessed this already; he felt his scars returning slowly, and he felt his mask materializing, though it wasn't visible.

"I hope you're not too hurt about finding the truth out this way." Zack said sympathetically. Riou grinned.

"Nah. I've never really liked what I thought was my childhood…" he said. "Too many inconsistencies, y'know?"

Zack nodded, now completely transparent.

"Most of the people whose cases are like these are the same way." He was now no more than a shadow. "Cloud's just too stupid to notice things like that." Zack was now a floating pair of eyes.

"Le gasp!" Riou cried, pointing and suddenly adopting a French accent. "It iz ze Crimson Ki-"

"No. More. Stephen. King." Zack said. "Ever."

Riou's mask returned to his face and he felt himself lifting.

"Do you understand why I've shown you this, Riou?"

Riou nodded.

"Because-"

(Part Twelve)

Riou shot up just as Vincent, Cloud and Rasputin were about to leave the room and join the others outside.

"-I needed to know!" Riou belted out. The other three turned around as he waved and shouted "Hey guys!"

"Riou!" Rasputin yelled.

"What'd I miss?"

The sound of a gunshot was his answer. Everyone turned toward the door, and Vincent looked back at the masked youth.

"Looks like you woke up just in time."

(Part Thirteen)

Luna stood amidst a ring of creatures, her gun held to her shoulder. Moments earlier, Tifa had snuck to a provisions room to find goods. She thought it was worth a shot, yet now it didn't seem too dandy of an idea. Yes. I said dandy.

"Tifa! You owe me your firstborn!"

At this point, the three men, who had heard this from through the door, turned to Cloud, who went red at the face.

"….What!?"

(Part Fourteen)

Luna fired a shot of her giant gun, causing a small explosion. A dent was created in the horde, but not enough to get to a secure room. Tifa held out a materia.

"Gravity!"

A dark hole appeared in the center of the horde, and many of them were flung to the walls. A few exploded on impact on the wall. A gap was created, and Luna had created a path with her gun. Tifa grabbed the younger girl's arm.

"Hurry!"

Tifa dragged Luna through, narrowly avoiding the lunges made by the dead men and women. Panting and sweating, they ran into the center of the closing clear space. They were surrounded.

"Luna…" Tifa said. "Sorry isn't going to cut it, is it?"

Luna grinned.

"Nope…not this time."

A creature lunged, and Tifa roundhouse kicked its head off.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." she said. "Maybe we-"

"The rest will attack in a group."

"Oh. Well, thanks for that, Luna."

Luna growled as the rest jumped.

"Goodbye, Teef."

A woman was three inches away from Luna's face, mouth open, eyes glazed.

"Goodbye, Luna."

The zombie hit the ground, its skull crushed, blood leaking out in a green puddle. Riou kneeled, warhammer stuck in the ground. Rasputin and Vincent were shooting madly, and Cloud was spinning his sword in a wide arc. Riou looked up, and despite his mask, everyone knew he was grinning.

"Sorry, ladies, but no one puts their mouth on Luna but me."

Raz, without a hesitation in his shots, hit Riou with his pistol, knocking him back into a few of the zombies, causing them to be knocked into the range of Vincent.

He happily took them out as well.

"You really think we'd let them all kill you?" Cloud asked

Rasputin grinned as he shot another man.

"I'm hurt you'd think that." he said.

"We must get them into the room, quickly." Vincent said. Cloud nodded and grabbed Tifa with his free arm.

"Be quick!" he screamed, and they ran toward the door, sword in front of them.

They tore through the crowd, creatures coming apart as they ran, until they reached the door. Then, they stopped. Cloud pried the door open, shoved Tifa inside, then ducked in himself. The door slammed shut. From across the room, Rasputin cursed.

"Riou, the door's jamming itself!" A gunshot. "Grab Luna and go! Vincent and I'll be fine!"

Riou nodded and went to grab Luna. The girl shrieked and slapped him.

"Not on your life, freak!" she cried. Vincent appeared behind her, grabbed her around the waist, and jumped toward the door. Riou stood, shocked.

"Not even in a life-or-death situation. This is ridiculous."

He swung his warhammer and killed another zombie, then bolted to the door.

"C'mon Raz, hurry!" he shouted. Rasputin shot until he was out of ammo, then ran to the door with everyone else.

Vincent was trying as hard as he could to pry open the door, but, as it always is in a situation like this, the door was stuck. Luna was shooting at the oncoming zombies, and Riou was swinging his warhammer like a madman. Rasputin jumped over several of the remaining people to rejoin the group.

"Vincent." Rasputin said, reloading. "Hurry up."

Vincent ignored him and pulled again. It didn't budge.

Riou replaced his warhammer with his wakizashis, no longer simply swinging but fighting like he was trained. Luna was out of ammo for her great cannon-like gun That left Rasputin and Riou to fight, and Vincent to try the door.

"Riou!" Vincent grunted, pulling the door again. "Help me!"

Four more shots, and four more people went down. They wouldn't be able to keep this up.

Riou sheathed his swords and ran to Vincent and, after positioning himself so that he could get a grip, began pulling. The door budged maybe an inch. One mako blue eye of Cloud's could be seen.

"Guys!" he yelled. "Come on, hurry!"

Rasputin and Luna were against a wall, both out of ammunition, and the horde was moving in. Riou and Vincent pulled from the outside as Tifa and Cloud pulled from the inside. The door moved slowly, and soon there was just enough room for a man to get in.

"Hurry!" Riou shouted. "Luna, go!"

She didn't have to be told twice. She threw her gun into the opening, then she herself side-stepped into the room quickly, panting. Next to go was Riou, who tripped and hit his face on the wall. The zombies were close enough to smell now.

Rasputin pushed Riou into the room while calling him an idiot. Vincent let go of the door and did a one-handed cartwheel into the room, firing three shots before the door slammed shut.

So there they were, Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Luna, Riou and Rasputin, panting like crazy, sweating, and alive. They were all in the room less than a minute when Cid and Red were on the monitor.

"Yer alive!" Cid screamed, elated, as Red wore a grin like none he ever had before. "Damn, I thought you were all goners!"

"Where are you two, anyway?" Cloud panted, starring at the screen.

"We're in the maintenance room." Red replied. "Cid decided to call his crew in Rocket Town, and this is the only working phone."

"And?" Rasputin asked.

"Most of 'em are dead or livin' dead." Cid said. "But three of my most able-bodied men're alive and well. Rufus and the Turks are gone for a while, and I don't know where, so I suggest you guys try an' split."

"We're surrounded, Cid." Vincent put in. Cid nodded.

"Yer gunna have to stock up and go quick. I gotta go now. Se ya'll later."

With that, the transmission ended. The group sat, exhausted, for a few minutes. Then, Luna broke the silence.

"There's zombie juice on my gun…" she whined. Rasputin scoffed.

"Must you be such a woman?" he asked, meaning to lighten the air around them. It was catastrophic. Luna pointed her gun at him.

"Hey, at least I killed some." she growled. "And what have you two done?"

Before Rasputin could defend himself, Riou stood up and poked Luna in the sternum.

"Listen missy," he said angrily, "I've done a heck of a lot more you, toting around a gun and preaching about a cure that doesn't even exist!"

Luna recoiled as if slapped, her eyes wide, but Rasputin wasn't one to let things go.

"We both just saved _your_ sorry ass a minute ago," he said. "and _I've_ already fought Sephiroth twice! Don't get on that train of thought, Luna, because it's out of fuckin' steam!"

Rasputin drew his gun. Cloud and Vincent went to stop him, but both stopped in their tracks as he pointed at the vent. The silver-haired man shot the corners of it, and the grate fell off. Rasputin jumped into it and stormed off. The vents were large enough to for him to walk with the slightest bend of the neck. Riou ran after him.

After a minute of stunned silence, Luna slammed down her gun and began crying. Tifa walked over to her, but the younger girl pushed her away. Tifa sighed and touched the back of her head. When she pulled her fingers back, she saw blood.

"Hey," Cloud said, "let's get that checked out."

(Part Fifteen)

Sephiroth stood in the desert prison of former-Corel, pacing and growling, amidst an field of dead bodies. He had a look of sheer hatred and slight puzzlement on his face.

"Why…" he growled. "Why would he save me? Damn you, Valentine, _why_?"

He looked over and saw a figure walking toward him, horribly burnt and incredibly skinny. The man bleared at him and spoke deliriously.

"B…" Dyne chocked. "Barret?"

Sephiroth grabbed him around the throat and threw the new stranger into an open solitary confinement chamber. Dyne hit the wall with a 'thunk' and the door closed, leaving him in darkness. Sephiroth began walking away.


	8. Luna's divide

As promised, the next chapter. You'll enjoy this.

(This is totally a page break)

Rasputin broke out of the ventilation system in the main section of the Saucer. He hit the ground and saw three undead men and two women. They all lunged for the man in black, but he simply drew his guns and fired five shots. Each of the zombies (as the group had finally accepted they were) fell, a hole between their eyes. Rasputin put his guns in the holsters which had been customized into the inside of his coat and continued walking.

He hated it when people didn't give him credit for what he had done, but he hated it when people made Riou out to be a fool even more. Rasputin and Riou had pretty much known each other their entire lives, though Riou had only just realized that. Rasputin often felt that Riou took too much from people, so he felt it his responsibility to stick up for his friend.

Speaking of the masked man, he had just jumped down the hole in the vents, and had caught up with his angry counterpart.

"Hey Raz, wait up!" he called. Rasputin stopped and replied, without looking back.

"What, Riou?"

Riou stopped behind Rasputin, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without me, man." he said. "We're compadres, right?"

In spite of his anger at Luna, Rasputin couldn't help but crack a smile. As happy as Riou was with Cloud and the others, he would give them up for Rasputin.

"I'm not leaving, Riou." he said. "I just need a little alone time."

Riou protested.

"But, with these zombies and Sephiroth running around-"

Rasputin turned around grinning and gave a thumbs up.

"If Cloud can beat him, so can I. But thanks. I appreciate the thought."

And with that, Rasputin continued walking, passing through the doors and into the lift room. Riou shrugged and began walking toward the Ghost Motel, where the group had relocated. It may not be as secure as the room they had been in before (steel doors no longer included), but it was better than nothing.

When he reached the room, he found saw Cloud, Vincent, Tifa and Luna. Cloud was drinking a beer, Vincent was reading a book that he had got from God knows where, and Tifa was sitting next to Luna, who was cleaning her gun.

"Hey, where's Cid?" Riou asked. "I thought he was supposed to meet us here."

"Show's just how wrong you can be." Luna said coldly. Riou ignored her.

"Cid and his crew are off trying to get another airship running." Cloud said.

"He said to begin moving toward Midgar." Vincent said. "He says that we may find a few answers there."

Riou nodded. Luna cursed under her breath as she wiped a lung off her weapon.

"Where did Raz go?" Tifa asked. Riou shrugged.

"Said he needed to be alone."

"He has his guns?" Vincent asked. Cloud actually smiled a little at this.

"Vincent," he said, "Rasputin took his guns to Marlene's birthday party last year."

Vincent nodded. Riou laughed a little at the memory, and Vincent smiled under his cloak at his own stupidity. Rasputin Dante Karkaram went _nowhere _without his guns.

"We should move." Vincent said. "We have precious little daylight to travel by."

Cloud nodded.

"Everyone be ready in five minutes." he said. "That means weapons ready, ammo-a-plenty, and anything else you may want."

(Part two)

They traveled very little that day, a mere three miles, but the sun was down, and darkness wasn't safe. They came across a small house, probably meant for two people, and decided to make camp there.

There was a television, but every channel said a variation of the same thing; "Experiencing technical difficulties". This made things at the house awkward and silent. Tensions between Riou and Luna were high. Tifa and Cloud were staying quiet to make sure they didn't start an argument. Vincent was enthralled by his book. Cloud once asked him what he was reading. Vincent had ignored him. Riou was lounging on the couch, and Luna was in the corner re-cleaning her already spotless gun, muttering curses every few seconds.

"Riou shouldn't have said that." Tifa said quietly when she was sure Riou was asleep.

"I agree." Cloud said. "But I think Luna crossed a line with he and Rasputin, as well."

"But Luna's parents…"Tifa muttered, biting her knuckle. Luna dropped a box of ammunition as well as her handgun, and it discharged. Riou was up in a second, warhammer at the ready. Vincent noted that he was on chapter four, subsection nineteen, and closed his book.

"_Fuck_!" Luna cried. Riou grunted and looked out the window. A face stared back at him.

"Woopdy skip!" he cried, jumping back. Vincent looked out and growled.

"They're here!" he cried, drawing his handgun, the Cerberus.

(Part three)

Rasputin's heart rate was through the roof. He was sweating like a madman, but he was cold. His pupils were small, red dots.

'_I can't…_'

'_Don't waste your time on thoughts like that. You can.'_

Rasputin fell to his knees, and a black aura began emitting from him. No, not black, not yet, it was now dark purple, but black is what he needed. He threw back his head and screamed, his eyes wide, a vein appearing in his forehead. The aura swirled around him, the wind of a tsunami going around him. His teeth were now fangs. He felt as though he may explode.

'_It's too much! It isn't worth it!_'

Ah, but he knew that was a lie. He held out his hand and a small amount of the aura concentrated there. It took the shape of a flimsy sword. Rasputin gave one more scream and the aura exploded for a split second, then was gone. The aura disappeared, and his face went slack, but normal.

He stayed kneeling for a moment, panting and coughing, then decided it was too much. He fell to his stomach, grunting in pain. This deserted spot of forest was not safe, and he knew that, especially after blowing away some of the trees with that blast, but he couldn't help it. He was exhausted.

"I'm…ha…not…" he panted. "Not ready…yet…"

After laying motionless for a few moments, he tried to stand. He was halfway up when his legs turned into jelly, and he fell on his face.

"Gah! Damn it!" he cried, and panted more. This wasn't good. No, not at all. And he felt as though he hadn't made any progress. He still couldn't-

There was a crack, the snapping of a twig or maybe even a bone, in the forest. He turned toward it.

"Someone's there." This was not a question. He forced himself to stand, shaking violently as he did, but managing it all the same. There were two more snaps, one softer than the first and the third even softer. Three people. A large one, a small one, and an average one. Probably a man or two and a girl. Rasputin drew one of his guns.

"Who's there?" he called, not really expecting an answer.

Three figures appeared, running at him. He had been right about the sizes, and even the gender dispersion. He hadn't guessed the ages, but he could tell now. And why not, he knew them. Barret, Marlene, and Denzel.

"No…" Rasputin murmured. "No, it can't be."

But it was. Half of the flesh was missing on Barret's face, chunks of skin on each of his children's faces were turning purple or falling off, as well, but they were unmistakable.

Barret jumped at his friend, blindly trying to eat him. Rasputin moved backward to avoid the man, but Marlene managed to latch onto him. Before she could sink her teeth into him, however, Rasputin put a bullet in her lifeless eye. The Marlene-that-was shrieked and fell, dead once again.

Now it was Denzel who jumped at him, high and wild, angry and hungry. A bullet entered his forehead and exited out the back of his head, causing his body to change direction in midair and land on his back. Rasputin took one final, painful look at Barret as the dark-skinned man lunged at him, then put a bullet in between his eyes.

Rasputin shook his head as a lump formed in his throat. He put away his gun and began walking away.

"I'm sorry…"

(Part four.)

Cloud grabbed his sword and walked to the door, but Tifa stopped him.

"How many are out there?" she asked, pulling on her gloves. Riou answered.

"We've got death in the thousands out there."

Luna loaded her gun and stood up.

"C'mon, who needs this shit?"

Luna walked over to the door and began digging in her pocket. She pulled out a vial, in it the cure her parents had went insane to find.

"Luna, what are you-"

Luna opened the door and hurled the vial at the crowd. Before it hit anyone, she aimed her massive gun and fired a single shot. The bullet hit the vial, and a large amount of the people were set aflame. Luna's face took on a sadistic grin.

"Ha! Face! Whose cure doesn't work _now_, Riou?" she screamed.

"Still yours." Riou said, pointing his warhammer at the even larger amount of zombies _not_ on fire. Luna gaped, growled, and began firing wildly.

"Fine, then I'll take 'em all out myself!"

Vincent shot out of the door, aiming and firing instead of just wasting bullets. He was surrounded by people trying to eat him, but that had never been a problem in the past. Yeah, he's done stuff like this before. Does that surprise you? He was a Turk, you have to remember.

He swiped with his claw, ripping off a man's head, and fired once, killing two women and another man. However, he didn't see the rotting corpse who's gender was now a mystery coming up behind him. It pounced.

Cloud landed on his knees, swinging his sword in a wide arc, making a spiral. The zombie that would have killed Vincent fell in several pieces. Cloud stood, looked at Vincent, and nodded.

Riou swung his wakizahis in wild arcs, cutting former-people to shreds. He didn't have the energy he needed to perform a Limit, but he could swing wildly with the best of them. He swung in a left-right-center-behind pattern, and it seemed to be working, but he knew it wouldn't last long. He looked to his left and saw Tifa surrounded by undead men. He grinned at this as he ran to save her.

'_Even the zombies want a piece of her._' he thought as he cut off two of the men's heads. ''_Course, it's much more literal in this situation._'

Tifa hit a man so hard his head flew across the field.

'_I will never hit on her again_.' was the next thought in the masked man's head.

Before long, the whole group was standing in a line, Vincent and Luna firing into the crowd, Riou and Cloud taking out the zombies that got close during the reloading times, and Tifa killing any that they missed. It was a good system, but…

"They'll run out…" Cloud said, just as Vincent finished reloading for the third time. Tifa nodded.

"I know." she said. She kicked a zombie's head, breaking it's neck. "I'm just going to keep fighting until I drop."

Riou let out a scream of exasperation.

"I always knew the zombies would get me!" he said. "I _knew_."

Cloud was about to reply when Luna stepped forward.

"I…" she said, throwing her cannon-like gun into the crowd. "…will _not _die in a shit hole like _this_!"

Riou put a hand on her shoulder.

"Luna, what are-"

Luna shook him off and punched him in the face, hard enough to leave a small dent in his mask.

"Don't you ever touch me again, you wretch!" she screamed, and turned back toward the oncoming crowd. "My parents couldn't kill you bastards, but _I can_!"

Luna held her hands in front of her, and she began glowing. Cloud's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

"_Get down_!" he screamed violently. The others didn't have to be told twice. Four bodies hit the ground just as Luna screamed.

"_This is for my parents, motherfuckers!"_

A brilliant white light flashed. Cloud and the others felt the ground shake. They heard Luna scream, _felt_ her scream. Vincent was vaguely aware that the roof of the house cracked and fell off, shattering into thousands of pieces. For what seemed like an eternity but was in actuality nineteen seconds, Luna's blast went on. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

Cloud looked up from his spot in the dirt. The ground was raised in uneven patterns of broken earth. To the blonde, it looked as if there had been an earthquake. Body parts were littering the clearing, and a green pus-like blood created puddles here and there throughout. And in the middle of it all stood Luna, her blond-brown hair matted to her face with sweat. Cloud stood up with the others.

"That was Flare." Vincent said. "But we don't-"

He was cut off as Luna began coughing, then fell back. With a shout, Tifa ran to her. She kneeled beside her fallen comrade. The other three found their way around Luna as Tifa checked Luna's pulse.

"Is she alright?" Riou asked. Tifa nodded.

"She's just fainted." she said. Then, looking up at the men with a look of puzzlement, added "But…she doesn't have any materia."

Riou simply gaped at this. However, Vincent and Cloud responded at the same time, with the same words.

"Holy shit."

Tifa nodded in agreement.

"Let's try to stay on Luna's good side, shall we?"

Riou nodded and walked toward the now ruined house. He climbed the steps and took the handle of the door. However, as soon as he turned it, the house collapsed into itself. Riou stared at it until the dust cleared.

"…right." he said, releasing the handle, allowing the door to fall. "This could be the only house for miles. And there'll be more zombies. Luna saved us this time, but whose to say that'll happen again?"

Cloud nodded.

"I know what you're saying, Riou. We can't keep running like this."

"So what's the plan, boss man?" Riou asked cheerfully. However, when he saw the look on Cloud's face, he slumped.

"You don't know, do you?"

Cloud shook his head. It was Vincent who spoke next.

"I we can figure out the point of origin for these things, we may be able to take them out from the source."

Cloud nodded.

"Cid thinks something's in Midgar." Cloud said.

"And he's right."

This voice was strange to the group. The men and woman turned around to see who it was. Smirking, arms crossed, silver hair flying in the wind, stood Sephiroth.

"And _I_ think," he said, "I can help."

(End of chapter)

I'd really appreciate reviews...I may begin updating faster, y'know.


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